Audiences, organisers, musicians sad to miss Organs of the Goldfields festival.

While the 2021 festival is yet another victim of COVID cancellation, the show must go on and plans will be made for this time next year.

Organiser Judy Houston said she, the audiences that come and the musicians who take part are all feeling sad at the loss of the 2021 festival but hopeful for future events.

"I don't normally get to know the audience during the festival because I'm running around carrying chairs and things, but I've had people come up to me and email me to say how they are missing the festival."

Also missing the festival are the region's accommodation and hospitality businesses.

Usually the Organs of the Goldfields festival sells around 6500 tickets to more than 20 concerts over 10 days, with around two thirds of attendees visiting from outside the region and many staying at least one night and dining at local restaurants.

Ms Houston said there were many visitors who travelled to Ballarat each year from every state and territory in Australia to hear the local and international musicians perform.

"The musicians all love this festival. We have sometimes up to 200 musicians involved - from a couple of orchestras and choirs and lots of smaller groups, plus soloists - and they love the freedom of the festival because our director Sergio leaves them space to work out what they want to play," Ms Houston said.

Organisers had this year planned to expand the venues to include the Rokewood church, in addition to the many small and large churches across the region.

"The festival helps all the smaller communities too because we pay to have concerts in their building, and we also bring people to appreciate their historical and architectural values.

"We always go to Clunes and stay all day because there's a couple of beautiful churches there ... and people have lunch in Clunes and that brings in a lot of business to the town. And people discover the beautiful little towns we have concerts in, find they are peaceful and not so far away from everything as they thought."

IN OTHER NEWS

During the 2020 Organs of the Goldfields festival, one of the few events that managed to be held early last year before the impact of the pandemic fully hit, Italian violinist Paolo Tagliamento sold out two concerts at the church in Yandoit and Ms Houston did not think he would consider returning to future festivals because he is now a major star in Europe.

"He's an absolute star in Europe, now playing with so many orchestras as a soloist, and he wrote to me (this week) to say he would love to come back," Ms Houston said.

"We invited him and he play in this tiny little church but he loved the experience, and he also played a concerto too in our final concert at St Patrick's. I thought, and our director Sergio thought, that we'd never be able to invite him again because he's such a big star but he wants to come back."